1. Field of Technology
The following relates to a mobile device. More particularly, the following relates to a moisture-proofing mobile device which is formed with a dual injection-molded silicon layer over a region that includes an engagement part of a bottom casing with a top casing, a clamping hole, and a battery mounting part, and may selectively include an antenna part, a camera part and/or a button part, such that there is no concern about malfunction or trouble of the mobile device even when the mobile device is used in a humid place, such as a kitchen, a bathroom, a swimming pool or a waterside, and the mobile device may provide a smooth and excellent grip feeling of a non-slip property, and exhibit an improved impact resistance.
2. Background
As generally known in the art, the term, “mobile device,” is used to refer to all kinds of portable electronic devices, such as a mobile phone (feature phone), an MP3 (MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group)-1 Audio Layer-3), a PMP (Portable Media Player), a PDA (Personal Digital Assistant), a laptop notebook computer, a mini notebook computer, a UMPC (Ultra-Mobile Personal Computer), a tablet PC, a smart phone, a navigation system adapted to be cradled in a vehicle, a portable game machine, such as a PSP (Play Station Portable), and an electronic dictionary.
Among the above-mentioned mobile devices, a smart phone, in which a portable phone function and a PDA function are converged, has diversified functions, such as a network function and a scheduler function of a PDA, a personal information management function, and an internet information search function through Wi-Fi, beyond a telecommunication function of an existing portable phone function centered around a voice communication. Such a smart phone enables a user to conduct image communication and image transmission, to enjoy music through a MP3 function, and to enjoy moving picture broadcasting contents through a DMB function, as well as to conduct voice communication through a portable terminal function. Furthermore, the smart phone enables the user to enjoy a game or to download a novel or a cartoon as well as to use a navigation function though a GPS function. Due to the surprising convenience and diversified functions, the smart phone market has grown approximately 13% or more a year even in the global economic downturn period, and the smart phones have turned themselves into the center of mobile devices.
The smart phone may be variously defined. However, the smart phone may typically be defined as a composite mobile device in that the smart phone incorporates a higher operating system (OS) in addition to a voice phone function, may incorporate and operate a third-party application, and enables the use of the Internet. As being improved to have a high performance and a high density integration, the smart phone tends to be more highly sensible.
Today, a considerable number of smart phone users more and more frequently use a smart phone in a humid environment, such as a bathroom or a kitchen without placing the smart phone out of her or his hands. As a result, the smart phone may also be caused to malfunction or breakdown more frequently due to the penetration of moisture or water.
A typical moisture-proofing structure for a feature phone is disclosed in Korean Patent No. 10-0546965 (registered on Jan. 20, 2006), in which a dual injection-molded water-proofing ring 31′ is generally interposed between a top casing 20′ and a bottom casing 10′, as illustrated in FIG. 11. Somewhat differently from this construction, a water-proofing packing may be formed only in the fastening part between the top casing 20′ and the bottom casing 10′ to prevent the water-proofing ring 31′ from being exposed to the outside.
However, many kinds of recently available smart phones are provided, on the rear side thereof, with a rear cover formed from a thin metal or resin sheet, and a plurality of clamping screw holes, an antenna and/or a camera are positioned on the outer surface of a bottom casing below the rear cover. Therefore, the smart phones are very poor in water-proofing and moisture-proofing. Accordingly, when such a smart phone is laid on a moist or watery surface, moisture or water may easily penetrate into the smart phone from the rear side of the bottom casing through a fastening clearance of the rear cover, thereby causing the malfunction or trouble of the smart phone. Consequently, the conventional moisture-proofing structure alone is not sufficient for the moisture-proofing of a mobile device.
In addition, when the water-proofing ring as described above is used which is fabricated as a separate component rather than being formed through dual injection molding, the material cost may be increased as the number of components as well as the number of fabrication steps are increased.
Meanwhile, a body housing of a conventional mobile device has a problem in that the body housing is poor in grip feeling and impact resistance since it is formed from a hard plastic material, such as polycarbonate (PC) or polypropylene (PP).
In order to solve this problem, a number of smart phone users buy and use a separate bumper case configured to enclose four lateral sides of a smart phone. Such a bumper case is typically formed by dual injection molding of soft silicon and hard polycarbonate.